Category: Ma’at

“Tell me, little man, is there reason for any season of joy for the poverty-stricken? Especially in the face of those who sicken with their greed and insatiable need for more and more material wealth, and rule the nations with imperial stealth, hiding behind corporation names, playing their economic games? At least in ancient days their ways were more open and honest; Pharaohs and Caesars had their barrows pushed through narrow streets of town and village for silver and gold to support the crown. They offered no apology for their gross ethnology; in their warped cosmology, they declared themselves incarnate gods … not frauds nor even flawed.” Ma’at held me by her side, tied by her arm, gazing out at distant pyramid amid dust and sand.

“Yes, there are far different kinds of darkness, surprising as that may seem, comprising an oxymoronic reality, but really rather banal, not surprising,” she looked at me and slightly smiled, lightly ran fingers down my back. “There is honest darkness, born of pride and ignorance, kept in stride by fools who rule with iron hand, and demand complete submission from their whole population … yet their reign is very plain, nothing to feign … or so it was so long ago, where you really rather belong.” Shocked look; balk at her talk; nonsense. Ma’at laughed. “Maftet already told you, you cannot hold your thoughts inside; they slide out of your mind as easily as your mouth; you cannot bind them from me, you see… But, yes, my dear, your heart and soul are near the days of ancient ways far more than this … this world of covert worlds where empowered cowards so overtly rule, but from behind masks to perform their tasks of cruelty with incredulity.”

She turned and pressed me close to her breasts, and with sweet incense-breath, eyes to eyes where there’d be no lies, asked, “What would you rather: Genghis Khan of fearsome scourge, undaunted courage and physical brawn, who at least showed mercy to those who cowered and bowed in his presence and agreed to pay him obeisance? Or the suit-and-tie executive, who’ll not sully his hands when he can bully-by-hire, and lynch by his henchmen; who abides in tall towers and hides in lush office with plush furnishings?” Hands at the side of my head now fed with more truth; fingers gently brushing back my hair with fair look — sympathetic, empathetic. “As I told you before, though, all is not bad; all is not sad. Your heart is so tender for your gender, but that’s your splendor. So you need uplifting by shifting of our focus, am I right? Of course,” she laughed. “Yes, in the sight of truth, I’m right; that’ my greatest might … so I’ll comfort you like lover to succor your soul.”

Ma’at sat down, gave playful pat, and pulled me into her lap, resting my head upon the boulder of her shoulder. Sky hole with swirling clouds again appeared, twirling through the world till we neared some poor scene of huts and hovels, mutts and smuts; scarcity of food and crude-dressed people. Among this rabble and all the babble two foreigners stood… “You know of these two; their names and faces have won acclaim round the globe as they travel in charity, and live to give.” My head nodded in recognition and appreciation. “They provide food and clothing without loathing; proposing better plans for farming without harming the earth; building homes and schools, supplying tools; constructing streams and pools of clean water for mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They help and adorn without scorn, for they have borne the responsibility of their blessed ability to do so much more than merely score another profit on the harlot market.” I smiled somewhat wild with joy. It couldn’t be helped or held back; it was like an attack of happiness overcoming my sadness.

“You see, my dove, there is still love in the world; yet, too, you must know the world has changed, been rearranged by strange dæmonic mange. There was in ancient times when right was right, and wrong was wrong, and ne’er a song was otherwise sung. Now so much has been turned inside out and upside down, where wrong is right, and right is wrong, and the song sung is discordant and mordant.” Instinctively, very distinctively, my arms tightened round Ma’at and would not lighten the grip. “Ah, my child-lover, hover here and don’t despair; send evil Moros back into the air! There is hope in the world — have you not been shown? have you not known? — and selfless Elpis visits especially the destitute and poor to shore up their spirits within the limits of their lives, minute by minute … and most of them are really not torn and so forlorn as you might think! At what seems to you the brink of despondency they drink from a cup of peace of which the rich know nothing!”

“Stinking, aristocratic snobs! Dogmatic fanatic jerks with all their quirks! I’ll gash them and smash them against the stones of the pyramids!” Ma’at railed in rage as angels wailed and begged for mercy in pity of humanity. But this was not all of humanity; just those caught up in extreme vanity and the insanity of believing they were better and higher than so many others, but Ma’at knew they were liars — to themselves and everyone else — and this is what angered her and endangered their lives.

Maftet had left me in the keep of Ma’at, like a little sheep, only moments before, or so it seemed. Now I was on the floor, or something like a floor, with no door in sight and pitch like night, except round the goddess of light and truth, justice and holy custom. And Ma’at looked into … something. Crystal ball? No! Nothing so silly! Cauldron? Certainly not! She wore no witches hat; Ma’at was much grander than that! It was like a piece of the sky with clouds flying around the edges. Yes, she was peering clearly through the heavens, leering at arrogant asses and their prideful passes.

“Because they have more silver and gold, they’re bold and so uncouth as they sleuth through life.” Ma’at glanced at me, and she pierced my soul with her eyes so wise. “Look at how they smile a mile wide, and slide back and forth as they glide around one another just waiting for an opportunity to stab and steal with complete impunity. Is there any unity in their community? Ha! Community of thieves! And they believe they can deceive and ne’er receive penalty for their iniquity? Ha! Fools! My sword drools for their blood!”

I’d never had any love for the wealthy with such unhealthy opinions, thinking themselves so mighty when they were, in fact, only minions of their money, blinking idiots who could buy knowledge they never learned nor earned. Still, the wrath of Ma’at sent chills down my spine in fine waves of fear and even some pity for the bitty-knaves. “Is there no other way?” I dared to ask “Can’t they be turned instead of everlastingly burned?” And quickly I added “Please, don’t be angry with me, but kindly put my mind at ease and appease my curiosity.”

Ma’at laughed much like Maftet — kind but not blind to my ignorance — and spoke with voice to prod and poke: “Do you ask mercy for the merciless? Shed tear for the uncaring, my dear? Would you rather they continue to rob and steal from the earth and poor every sumptuous meal? Continue the expansion of their mansions built on lust and greed that leads so many to dust and ashes as they plead for their very lives? When did you become the great defender of such grotesque pretenders?”

Suddenly the room, though not exactly a room, lightly glistened with beautiful hue of soft blue as I listened. “There was One, who taught you to show mercy to the unmerciful, I know full well. He rang the mighty bell of truth, of which I am the face and voice, and laced this with the grace of Dyēus. Yes! And you’ll not hear me lament one precious word of statement he uttered in the clutter of this diseased and dying world. But truth and justice unfurled is my appointment; to be the ointment of the fearsome holy upon all stages of this world till the end of the ages… Now let’s begin again, my love, and look at the brook of sin they cross as they toss mere crumbs to the poor.”

And it was true; Ma’at was right: The blight of poverty, the sight of spoiled earth, nations embroiled in war … all for love of money, like bees for their honey. “Make no mistake; there are the wealthy who use what they’ve been given in healthy ways. They do not abuse, but take their responsibility very deliberately. They are sensible and charitable; prudent but always for the improvement of others, as sisters and brothers. And the world into which they were born, they adorn with goodness in gratitude, so the latitude of their blessings is, indeed, very wide. But on the other side evil abides, as the seed of greed grows into thorns and thistles that cannot adorn anything, but leaves those quite empty and forlorn.” Her tan-gold skin shimmered, brown eyes glimmered, and she smiled. “This is all like the pyramid: Every word, heard and unheard; every crook and look; every event perfectly planned and damned; every thought and each item bought … all, everything, like stone upon stone angled-rising to the pinnacle of truth … the truth of life.”

Hmmm … I thought I understood, but this pyramid seemed somehow upside down, but perhaps I would learn more…